\u00a0<\/strong>Poetry is one of the ways that the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling overflows with beauty. You might encounter a child educated in the CM way beautifully reciting a whole poem with emotion, and you wish your own child can do the same.\u00a0<\/p>

But, before you force your child to memorize a lengthy poem, let\u2019s take a look at what Miss Mason says about poetry and memorization. First, this short passage from Volume 1: <\/p>

Memorising.\u2013\u2013Recitation and committing to memory are not necessarily the same thing, and it is well to store a child’s memory with a good deal of poetry, <\/em>learnt without labour. <\/em><\/strong>(Vol 1, page 224)\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>

First off, we want to emphasize that storing poetry in our child\u2019s memory is intended to be a learning that happens \u201cwithout labour.\u201d How in the world is that possible? Charlotte Mason poetry study is not about rote memorization as it is about enjoying the poems on a daily basis. What we usually do is that everyday, we read aloud one poem\u2014only one poem, and only once! But for our recitation selection, we might have another poem that we read, again only once, but everyday. <\/p>

This constant repetition helps to instill the poem, no matter how long, in our children\u2019s minds without much conscious effort. We will discuss this process in more detail in a separate blog.\u00a0<\/p>

Next, from this passage we can tell that she encourages us to feed our children\u2019s minds with lots of poems, and this feeding is not just a passing thing; instead, we are called upon to \u201cstore a child\u2019s memory\u201d with these inspiring selections.<\/p>

How Do We Choose Poems to Memorize for a CM Homeschool? <\/strong><\/h2>

Again, before we jump the gun and compile all our favorite poems for our child to memorize, listen to this: <\/p>

\u2026Let the poems the child learns be simple and within the range of his own thought and imagination. At the same time, when there is so much noble poetry within a child’s compass, the pity of it, that he should be allowed to learn twaddle! (Vol 1, page 226) <\/em><\/p>

This tells me that the poems we introduce to our children have to be done according to their range of understanding and imagination. This is why, for younger children, we normally recommend poems relating to play and childhood. <\/p>

Favorite Poems to Memorize for Charlotte Mason Form 1:<\/strong><\/h2>

Here are some of our favoite poems and poets (and suggested books) you can use for children in Form 1 (or ages 6 to 8): <\/p>

1. Lines and Squares by A.A. Milne from When We Were Very Young <\/strong><\/h3>

\n

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>

Whenever I walk in a London street,
I’m ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, “Bears,
Just look how I’m walking in all the squares!”<\/p>

And the little bears growl to each other, “He’s mine,
As soon as he’s silly and steps on a line.”
And some of the bigger bears try to pretend
That they came round the corner to look for a friend;
And they try to pretend that nobody cares
Whether you walk on the lines or squares.
But only the sillies believe their talk;
It’s ever so portant how you walk.
And it’s ever so jolly to call out, “Bears,
Just watch me walking in all the squares!”<\/p>

Poems from Robert Louis Stevenson\u2019s A Child\u2019s Garden of Verses<\/strong><\/h3>

\n

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>

2. My Shadow<\/strong><\/h3>

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.<\/p>

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow\u2014
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.<\/p>

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!<\/p>

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.<\/p>

3. The Swing<\/strong><\/h3>

How do you like to go up in a swing,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ever a child can do!<\/p>

Up in the air and over the wall,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Over the countryside\u2014<\/p>

Till I look down on the garden green,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Down on the roof so brown\u2014
Up in the air I go flying again,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Up in the air and down!<\/p>

4. The Cow<\/strong><\/h3>

The friendly cow, all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.<\/p>

She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;<\/p>

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.<\/p>

5. Little Blue Pigeon by Eugene Field (from Lullaby Land)\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>

\n

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>

Sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings–
     Little blue pigeon with velvet eyes;
Sleep to the singing of mother-bird swinging–
     Swinging the nest where her little one lies.<\/p>

Away out yonder I see a star–
     Silvery star with a tinkling song;
To the soft dew falling I hear it calling–
     Calling and tinkling the night along.<\/p>

In through the window a moonbeam comes–
     Little gold moonbeam with misty wings;
All silently creeping, it asks: “Is he sleeping–
     Sleeping and dreaming while mother sings?\u201d<\/p>

Up from the sea there floats the sob
     Of the waves that are breaking upon the shore,
As though they were groaning in anguish, and moaning–
     Bemoaning the ship that shall come no more.<\/p>

But sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings–
     Little blue pigeon with mournful eyes;
Am I not singing??–see, I am swinging–
     Swinging the nest where my darling lies.<\/p>

Charlotte Mason Poems to Memorize for Children in Form 2 (Ages 9 to 11) <\/strong> <\/h2>

As children grow older, their imagination grows too, so we can recommend more abstract ideas for this age group. <\/p>

6. Hope is a Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson <\/strong><\/h3>

\u201cHope\u201d is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –<\/p>

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –<\/p>

I\u2019ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.<\/p>

7. The Lamb by William Blake <\/strong><\/h3>

Little Lamb who made thee\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dost thou know who made thee\u00a0
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.\u00a0
By the stream & o’er the mead;<\/p>

Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Little Lamb who made thee\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dost thou know who made thee\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!<\/p>

He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:\u00a0
He is meek & he is mild,\u00a0
He became a little child:\u00a0<\/p>

I a child & thou a lamb,\u00a0
We are called by his name.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Little Lamb God bless thee.\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Little Lamb God bless thee.<\/p>

8. The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <\/strong><\/h3>

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.<\/p>

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?<\/p>

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.<\/p>

Poems to Memorize for Charlotte Mason Students 12 years and older<\/strong><\/h2>

For students 12 years old and above, poems that call for deeper contemplation are a great choice. Here are some of our personal favorites:\u00a0<\/p>

9. Forgiveness by John Greenleaf Whittier <\/strong><\/h3>

My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellowmen,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
the green mounds of the village burial place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find one sad level; and how, soon or  late,
Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!<\/p>

10. Children by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <\/strong><\/h3>

Come to me, O ye children!
For I hear you at your play,
And the questions that perplexed me
Have vanished quite away.

Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,
Where thoughts are singing swallows
And the brooks of morning run.<\/p>

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,
In your thoughts the brooklet’s flow,
But in mine is the wind of Autumn
And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.<\/p>

What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood, —

That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are singing
In your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom of our books,
When compared with your caresses,
And the gladness of your looks?

Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead.<\/p>

11. If by Rudyard Kipling <\/strong><\/h3>

If you can keep your head when all about you\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But make allowance for their doubting too;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or being lied about, don\u2019t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don\u2019t give way to hating,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And yet don\u2019t look too good, nor talk too wise:<\/p>

If you can dream\u2014and not make dreams your master;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you can think\u2014and not make thoughts your aim;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And treat those two impostors just the same;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
If you can bear to hear the truth you\u2019ve spoken
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And stoop and build \u2019em up with worn-out tools:<\/p>

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To serve your turn long after they are gone,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Except the Will which says to them: \u2018Hold on!\u2019<\/p>

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or walk with Kings\u2014nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With sixty seconds\u2019 worth of distance run,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Yours is the Earth and everything that\u2019s in it,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And\u2014which is more\u2014you\u2019ll be a Man, my son!<\/p>

12. A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <\/strong><\/h3>

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
      “Life is but an empty dream!” —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
      And things are not what they seem.<\/p>

Life is real! Life is earnest!
      And the grave is not its goal;
“Dust thou art, to dust returnest,”
      Was not spoken of the soul.<\/p>

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
      Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
      Find us farther than to-day.<\/p>

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
      And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
      Funeral marches to the grave.<\/p>

In the world’s broad field of battle,
      In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
      Be a hero in the strife!<\/p>

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
      Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, — act in the living Present!
      Heart within, and God o\u2019erhead!<\/p>

Lives of great men all remind us
      We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
      Footprints on the sands of time;<\/p>

Footprints, that perhaps another,
      Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
      Seeing, shall take heart again.<\/p>

Let us, then, be up and doing,
      With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
      Learn to labor and to wait.<\/p>

Enjoying Charlotte Mason Poems to Memorize <\/strong><\/h2>

We are excited for you to enjoy these (and many other) poems in your Charlotte Mason homeschool. We hope that as you start to like some of these poems we recommend, it would encourage you to explore the other works of these poets, and share your experience in the comments below! <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Poetry is one of the ways that the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling overflows with beauty. You might encounter a child educated in the CM way beautifully reciting a whole poem with emotion, and you wish your own child can do the same.\u00a0 But, before you force your child to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[20,19,61,62],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-charlotte-mason-homeschool","tag-charlotte-mason-philosophy","tag-charlotte-mason-poetry","tag-charlotte-mason-recitation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-photo-414171.jpeg?fit=1880%2C962&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1217,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions\/1217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlottemasoninternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}